Working'!! TV Sequel's Ad for Early Preview Streamed

The official Japanese website for the Working!! anime beganstreaming a 15-second commercial for the early preview of the second television series, Working!!, on Friday. Tokyo MX, Tochigi TV, Gunma TV, and other television stations will show the first episode of the new series one month early, starting on September 3. The anime is based on Karino Takatsu's manga of the same name, which revolves around a high school freshman named Sota Takanashi who works part-time among a restaurant's high-spirited, eccentric, yet cool staffers. The first season aired during the spring 2010 anime season. NIS America, the American subsidiary of theNippon Ichi Software videogame company, licensed the series last November and released it under the name Wagnaria!!...

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Zero no Tsukaima Gets Final Series as TV Anime

The wraparound jacket band on the second volume of Yukari Higa's Zero no Tsukaima Chevalier manga is announcing this month that the final series of the Zero no Tsukaima light novel franchise has been green-lit as a television anime. Zero no Tsukaima Kessakusen, selected episodes from previous Zero no Tsukaima anime, will air this October. The story follows a budding magician, nicknamed "Louise the Zero" due to her initial ineptness at magic, who accidentally summoned a boy from Earth as her familiar. Noboru Yamaguchi's original light novels have already inspired three television anime series. Yamaguchi has been writing the final series arc of the light novels, and he had planned to end the light novels next year. However, he was diagnosed...

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Anime News - Touhou-Based Anime Streamed

The dōjin (self-published) circle Manpuku Jinja began streaming the full "Gensō Bankakyō ~The Memories of Phantasm~" ("Kaleidoscope of Illusions: The Memories of Phantasm") Shunsetsu Ihen no Shō, the anime that the circle created based on the Touhou Project games, on Tuesday. The circle had just released its full 16-minute anime at Comic Market 80 on Saturday. The anime features numerous characters from the dōjin shooter video game franchise Touhou Project, including Reimu Hakurei, Yukari Yakumo, Marisa Kirisame, and others. (animenewsnetwork.com) I didn't even know this was coming out. I love the Touhou Project series of games, even if I totally suck at bullet hell games. (which is why I prefer Scarlet Weather Rhapsody to the othe...

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Anime News - Game-Based Paperman Anime's Digest Video Streamed

The Japanese game news site 4Gamer beganstreaming a 57-second digest video of the Papermananime short on Tuesday. The anime adaptsGamepot's Japanese first-person shooter game forMicrosoft Windows; even though the game and the anime are set in a 3D environment, it features characters made of "paper" that can be customized like paper dolls. The anime itself will formally premiere online on Wednesday, when Paperman game players can purchase the anime within the game itself and download it online. [Via Moon Phase] (animenewsnetwork.com) For those of you who didn't know what the game was, here it is. ...

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Anime News - First Lollipop Chainsaw Game Trailer Streamed

The Gamespot website began streaming a 90-second trailer for the Lollipop Chainsaw zombie-hunting action game on Monday. In the game, the protagonist is a blonde cheerleader named Juliet who battles zombies with the titular tool. Grasshopper Manufacture (Heroman, Rebuild of Evangelion: Sound Impact) and Kadokawa Games are co-producing the game, which is due for a release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in 2012. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will release the game outside of all Asian territories. James Gunn, writer-director of this year's film Super, co-writer of the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, and writer-director of the films Tromeo and Juliet and Slither, is supervising the game's story scenario. Suda51 (No More...

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Anime News - Tales of Xilia Gets Two Manga

This year's September issue of Media Factory's Monthly ComicGene magazine announced that it will begin serialization of a manga adaptation of the Tales of Xillia role-playing game starting in the magazine's October issue. The manga will tell the main story of the game from character Milla Maxwell's point of view. New manga artist hu-ko will be drawing the manga. In addition,ufotable will be drawing a special Tales of Xillia cover for the October issue. The issue will also include a Tales of Xillia clear file. The monthly Viva☆Tales of Magazine will also publish a manga adaptation of Tales of Xillia. This manga adaptation will tell the main story of the game from character Jude Mathis' point of view. The magazine will publish a pre-serialization...

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Anime News - Sentai Filmworks Licenses ICE Anime

Sentai Filmworks announced on Monday that it has licensed the original anime video project ICE. The film will be streamed "through many digital distributors" in November, and will be released on DVD in the same month. The DVD will include both Japanese and English-language tracks. ICE is directed by Makoto Kobayashi, who is also known for his mechanical designs on such titles as Giant Robo, Last Exile, and the upcoming sequel Last Exile -Fam, The Silver Wing-. The story takes place in the near future when all male humans in the world have died off and only 20,000 females remain living in the Tokyo ward of Shinjuku. While some of the survivors decide to accept humanity's death sentence and live bacchanal lives, other fight over a mysterious...

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What Am I Watching - Deadman Wonderland

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times; min-height: 14.0px} Synopsis - Igarashi Ganta lived a normal life with his two best friends until one day, the school gets trashed by a being that is known as Red Man. Ganta is the only survivor of this ordeal, and ends up getting shot by the Red Man. When he recuperates, he finds a man who tells him, "sorry kid, but you are under arrest for the murder of your classmates"... Now, Ganta must find a way to survive in a unique prison where the overall rule is "kill or be killed". Review - So, I sat down one day with a few buddies of mine compiling a list of anime to watch. I picked this, knowing that this just looks like...

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What Am I Watching - Colorful

Synopsis - A soul is wandering aimlessly till an "angel" tells him that he has a chance at reincarnation. The only thing this soul must do is possess a child by the name of Makoto Kobayashi, who has attempted suicide. Everything seems fine at first, till the soul finds out why Makoto wasn't so cheery about his existence. Oh yeah, if he fails this internship, both he and Makoto will die. Review - What a movie. I'm almost ashamed of myself for not having heard of it 'till recently. A buddy of mine called me and asked if I have seen a film called Colorful. I thought she meant this.. Not the colorful you're thinking about I quickly replied that it was a terrible anime and that if she wanted fan service, she should watch Goldenboy. I was quickly...

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Anime News - Rock Duo Puffy to Voice-Act in Usagi Drop Anime

The Japanese rock duo Puffy (PuffyAmiYumi) will be voice-acting in the ninth episode of the Usagi Drop anime, which will air on September 1. Ami Onuki and Yumi Yoshimura will play children's afterschool caretakers who were designed by the Usagi Drop (Bunny Drop) manga creator Yumi Unita. Puffy's last voice acting roles were in the 2006 slice-of-life anime Hataraki Man. The duo has performed various anime theme songs, including the opening for Usagi Drop titled "Sweet Drops." (The song will also be the theme song for the live-action film adaptation.) The CD single for "Sweet Drops" will go on sale on August 17 in Japan. The American cartoon Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, which ran from 2004 to 2006, was based on the musical lives of the duo. Puffy...

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Anime News - VizManga.com Adds Oishinbo, What A Wonderful World

The North American publisher Viz Media announced on Tuesday that it is adding the Oishinbo and What A Wonderful World! manga to its VizManga.com digital manga service and Viz Manga App (for the Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch devices) on August 1 and August 8, respectively. It is also adding the following volumes to its existing digital titles: August 1: Ai Ore Vol. 2Black Bird Vol. 9Bleach Vol. 20Claymore Vol. 15Dengeki Daisy Vol. 3D.Gray-man Vol. 16Dragon Ball Z Vol. 20I'll Give It My All...Tomorrow Vol. 2Inuyasha (VizBig) Vol. 2 – exclusive to Viz Manga App for iPadNaruto Vol. 46Maoh: Juvenile Remix Vol. 4One Piece Vol. 37The Story of Saiunkoku Vol. 4Vampire Knight Vol. 9 August 8: Blue Exorcist Vol. 3Dragon Ball Z Vol. 21Fushigi...

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Anime News - Suspect Arrested for Uploading Anime via Share Program

Police arrested a 28-year-old male part-time worker from Nagoya City on Tuesday on suspicion of using the Share file-sharing software to upload anime online without the copyright holders' permission. According to the Association of Copyright for Computer Software, the suspect uploaded the 17th episode of the Toaru Majutsu no Index II anime around February 21. He also allegedly uploaded 12,729 anime video files — about two terabytes — between January of 2010 and June of 2011. [Via animeanime.biz] (animenewsnetwork.c...

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Anime News - A Letter To Momo Teaser Streamed

The Japanese production company Kadokawa Pictures began streaming a 48-second teaser trailer for Hiroyuki Okiura (Jin-Roh) and Production I.G's Momo e no Tegami (A Letter to Momo) film on Tuesday. I.G describes the film's story as follows: "Dear Momo" — that was all that was written on a letter left behind by Momo's late father. Momo and her mother have just moved from Tokyo to the countryside of Japan's Inland Sea. On an island lies a wondrous town surrounded on all sides by quaint homes and nature's landscape. Even as Momo starts a new life, she wonders, "Father, what did you really want to write in your letter…?" One day, she discovers an ancient book in the attic, and from that day forward, strange happenings occur all around Momo. The...

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Anime News - Gonzo, Miku Designer KEI's Copihan to Stream Next Week

The official Twitter account of the Copihan anime announced that the anime will stream every other week on its exclusive channel on the Nico Nico Douga service starting at 24:00 on Thursday, August 11 (effectively midnight on Friday). Copihan is a collaborative work between animation studio Gonzo and Hatsune Miku designer KEI. The slapstick school comedy is set in 2034 in Tokyo, where everything is encrypted and money is completely digital. It is one of three new projects Gonzopresented at the Machi Asoba event in May. KEI has also been drawing the manga series in Jive's Monthy Comic Rush magazine since last November. (animenewsnetwork.com) Don't know what this is about, but just looking at it....it looks exciting. Really exciting. Can't...

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Anime News - The Bawdies Animated For Music Video

The members of the Japanese rock band The Bawdies will be animated in 1960s American comic book-style for the music video for their song "Yeah." The band's first fully animated music video will be included in the Keep on Movie music video collection DVD that is shipping on September 14. The Bawdies, originally an independent band, formed in 2004 by three friends who had been classmates since elementary school and a fourth who had been a classmate in high school. The Bawdies released their first independent album in 2006, and their first major album in 2009. Their latest album, Live the Life I Love, was released in June, and "Yeah" is featured as the final song on 11 tracks. Source: Tower Records Japan (animenewsnetwork.com) I like the look...

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Anime News - Little Battlers eXperience Offered In The U.S

Dentsu Entertainment USA announced on Monday that it is bringing the Little Battlers eXperience (Danbōru Senki) television anime series to the United States. The anime from the studio OLM (Pokémon, Deltora Quest) adapts a "near-future, plastic-model-building role-playing game" from Level 5 (Dragon Quest VIII, Professor Layton, Inazuma Eleven, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE). The player customizes and controls miniature robots called LBX (Little BattlereXperience) as they battle it out in dioramas built from reinforced cardboard. The anime versionpremiered on TV Tokyo last March. Level 5 had filed a "Little Battlers eXperience" trademark for videogame, animation, plastic models, comic books, and other related merchandise in the United States on July...

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What Am I Watching - Angel's Egg

Synopsis - A little girl wanders a bleak and barren city, holding the only thing of true value to her, an egg. She meets a soldier who holds a bit of an interest towards that egg.. Outside of that, the entire film's plot is down to the viewer and where his/her head is at the time. Review - Hoo boy. I came into this knowing that this was one of the most complex anime (and art films) to come out. But since I had an old VHS, I felt that it would have been a great disservice to the already-buried treasure. A few years back, I found on THEM Anime Reviews (good site) that the plot of the film is different to everybody. Being the kind of guy that I am, I bought my little brother (who is thirteen) over to the room and asked him to watch with me....

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Anime News - Sacred Seven BDs in Japan to Include English Subs

According to Amazon.jp listings for the Japanese Sacred Seven Blu-ray Disc volumss, English subtitles will be included in the release. Bandai Visual will release all 12 episodes on six volumes beginning on September 22 in Japan. The show will be released in both Limited Edition and regular edition. The first Limited Edition volume includes an art box to store the Blu-ray Discs, a premium event application postcard, character card, 12 page booklet, credit-less endin animation footage, eye-catch collection, a digital gallery, and commentary for episode 1. The sci-fi anime began airing earlier this month in Japan, and Bandai Entertainment is streaming it on Hulu and Crunchyroll. [Via: Can You Moe?] (animenewsnetwork.co...

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Anime News - Grandia/Gungriffon Creator Takeshi Miyaji Passes Away

The Japanese game developer G-Mode announced on Monday that its representative director Takeshi Miyaji passed away on Friday, July 29. Miyaji created the Grandia, Gungriffon, and Silpheed game franchises. (animenewsnetwork.com) This is the saddest of news for me. When I was a kid, Grandia I and II were my favorite RPG games to play. The stories were great, and the characters (as well as the gameplay) were very unique. It is a damn shame that this man was taken from us. I don't know if he made the second and third, but if he did, this'll squash any plans of a sequel. I'm going to rest my head for a while...

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